Community associations are becoming stewards of our local environment. Please see the article at the bottom of this update and share as widely as possible.
Outreach of the month - Spanish-speaking landscape professionals: Can you contact the owners of your landscape companies and ask them to send their Spanish-speaking workers to our February 20 native plant conference? Many companies send their whole crew. The conference is free and specifically for people who work in the business: lawn-and-landscape companies, garden centers, designers, installers, etc. Details and a printable flier can be found on the Plant NOVA Trees website. https://www.plantnovatrees.org/clase-en-espanol
Upcoming events:
January 12, 7:30 am - Large Property Breakfast Club kickoff. Ruthies All Day, 3411 5th St S, Arlington. Discussion group for people who are involved with (or interested in) larger properties (such as condos or religious institutions) and want to share ideas to make communities more sustainable. In-person. Sponsored by Arlington Regional Master Naturalists but open to anyone. RSVP loribowes@gmail.com
Monday, January 13, 8 pm - Webinar on pending legislation on invasive plants as well as proposed budget amendments to provide more funding to combat invasives. Register here.
Monday, January 20 (MLK Day) - Many people take the opportunity to do a day of service in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. One popular activity (depending on the weather) is removing invasive plants from our parks. In Fairfax County, you can find such events on the Invasive Management Area calendar. Some of the tree rescuing opportunities are posted on the Plant NOVA Trees calendar.
Saturday, February 8, 9:00-5:00 Seventh Annual Native Plant Symposium. In person and online. Doug Tallamy will be the keynote speaker. Details here.
Saturday, February 22, 8:30-12:00 - Rain Garden Workshop - Virtually or Lubber Run Community Center in Arlington - Details here.
Thursday, February 27 - NVSWCD Seedling Sale opens, with pick-up dates on 3/28 and 3/29 in Falls Church. Details will be updated on this website soon.
Partner of the month: The local office of the Virginia Department of Forestry (DOF) was one of the founding partners of the Plant NOVA Natives campaign. DOF helps to protect and develop healthy, sustainable forest resources for Virginians. Through surveys, monitoring, and other unbiased scientific data, DOF makes recommendations to land managers on removal of non-native invasive plants. It operates two seedling nurseries which grow seedlings of many native species for reforestation, riparian plantings, and more. Additionally DOF partners with some nurseries around the commonwealth to offer subsidies for purchase of larger trees through their Throwing Shade program.
Report your native tree and shrub plantings
Please help Northern Virginia meet its tree-planting obligations by reporting your tree and shrub plantings here. So far 17,391 have been reported!
Report your tree rescues
Millions of trees in Northern Virginia are at risk from invasive non-native vines. You can help by saving them on your own land or by volunteering on public land. (Plant NOVA Natives/Plant NOVA Trees only does educational outreach, so all this work is done under the auspices of our partnering organizations or other landowners.). So far, 15,379 tree rescues have been reported in Northern Virginia. Please add your report here.
Next Steering Committee meeting – via videoconferencing. All are welcome. Check our Event Calendar for future meetings.
This month’s newsletter articles to share. For social media, please use this link.
Community associations and environmental leadership
Community associations are familiar local institutions. They serve residents by enacting and enforcing community rules, managing any common areas, and enhancing the neighborhood’s quality of life. In addition, in recent years, a number of community associations in Northern Virginia have chosen to expand stewardship of their lands to the native flora and fauna inhabiting them. Those organizations who have reached this pivot point came to realize that the two seemingly unrelated goals of supporting ecosystem health and maintaining property values are in fact mutually reinforcing.
This is good news, as community associations are positioned to play a transformative role in ecosystem rejuvenation, acting on their common land and inspiring residents to do the same on theirs. Some local HOAs own very large swaths of natural spaces, including environmentally sensitive riparian borders that protect streams and rivers across our region. They therefore have the necessary control to make both small and big decisions that can determine the future of the birds and butterflies of Northern Virginia. As an example of a project that can make a big difference, seven HOAs participated last year in a mini-grant program for invasive plant removal, supplementing professional services with volunteer help to rescue their trees.
Whether your community association manages acres of common land or none at all, there are a number of ways to lead in the environmental stewardship space. The following ideas reflect what is actually being done in various community associations across Northern Virginia. Many of these projects require little or no budget.
Develop a natural landscaping policy for your common land.
Set voluntary standards for landscaping on residential properties and provide residents with resources to choose native plants. Approximately 300 species of Virginia native plants are available for sale, which provide plenty of choices, whether you are looking for a natural look or a conventional landscaping plan.
Use your newsletter or NextDoor.com to raise awareness.
Host presentations at community meetings on the benefits of invasive plant removals and native plant landscaping.
Develop a plan to control invasive plants on your own property.
To keep invasive plants from spreading back from adjacent land, encourage residents to remove invasives on their own properties and to volunteer to control invasives in your local park. Adopt the roadside right of way to combat invasives there. (VDOT has a relatively straightforward permitting process for this.)
Organize native tree plantings - see examples here.
Join an alliance for political action. Loudoun communities can engage with the Loudoun Invasive Removal Alliance that currently represents 50 community associations and 210,000 residents in that county. Fairfax communities can engage with the Fairfax Invasive Removal Alliance that currently represents 40 community associations and 150,000 residents there.
For details about these ideas as well as many others, see the community association page on the Plant NOVA Natives website.
Community associations are reinventing themselves as we write this. As stand-alone organizations, their members can help draft and implement stewardship plans and monitor results. As alliance members, they can use their significant political clout to advocate for sustainable development and ecosystem protection. As trusted partners in the greater community, they can help reinstate the biodiversity of our region. As always, we thrive together.
